[Successful epidural anesthesia using 120 mm epidural needle for cesarean section in a morbidly obese parturient with body mass index 50.2 kg x m(-2)].

In a morbidly obese parturient, epidural anesthesia is occasionally difficult because of great distance from the skin to the epidural space, and difficulty in identification of appropriate landmarks. We successfully managed cesarean section in a morbidly obese parturient with body mass index of 50.2 kg x m(-2) under epidural anesthesia. We used a 17 G custom-made epidural needle 120 mm long (Hakko, Tokyo, Japan), and the depth from the skin to the epidural space was 95 mm. We conclude that an extremely long epidural needle was useful in a morbidly obese parturient for overcoming the difficulties in epidural puncture and avoiding general anesthesia-related complications.